Whether to upgrade?

[Hurricane]

Been on cpap 2 months now, getting to a point of sleeping straight 5-6 hours of straight sleep, then semi sleep. I am now onResmed plus (respironics) cpap, 10 cmh2/0 ramp starting at 6, with a heated humidefier. I have an appointment this week for a follow up visit at my pulmonologist who is director of the sleep study at our near bye hospital, my question is should I be asking about an APAP system, and would it benifit me further, I have been progressing on the equipment I have now, even though taking a long time to get to this point, learning mask adjustments, new chin strap, humidity levels etc. I mouth breath without the chin strap, even though I had nasal surgery, i still have the old habit of breathing thru my mouth if I didn' use the chin strap. I have my own insurance as primary, medicare on top of that. Kind of up in the air as to what to pursue, the last time I saw him was a month ago and he said wait another month, come back and if I had issues he would make an appointment back at the sleep center and for a day visit they would go over different head gear or what would be better for me. Any ideas what I should be asking?
Hurricane PS use resmed mirage swift nasal pillows feels comfortable.

[Goofproof]

Wash you mouth out with soap. You have a Remstar Plus not a Resmed Plus. If you want to monitor your treatment, you will need a upgrade of machine, Remstar APAP, would give you that. plus it could result in less pressure over the night, making it easier to use treatment. Jim

[ozij]

Hey!
I just figured out what that Remstar (line) name is all about - it's a "REM star"... apparently, stars at finally getting you into into REM sleep.
Took me almost 20 months to dicover that....

A Respironincs (company) REMstar Plus (machine) is a CPAP machine that will not let you monitor the relationship between your pressure and your breathing events.

So, a minimum upgrade would be to a CPAP machine that does let you do intelligent montoring, and that would be the REMstar Pro 2 of the older line, or the Pro of the newer M line.

A self adjusting machine = Auto PAP = APAP does even more than let you self monitor.

O.

[rested gal]

Hi Hurricane, and welcome to the board.

Sounds like you're doing quite well so far. You have the hardest piece of the treatment puzzle in place -- a mask you are comfortable with.

Unless you are really interested in seeing overnight data about your own treatment, the machine you have...the Respironics REMstar Plus...is fine.

Like so many others on here, I want to see the nightly detailed data from a machine that's treating me each night. For that, you'd need to get one of the next models up, as ozij and goofproof suggested. The Respironics REMstar Pro 2 (has to have "2" in its name, unless it's an "M" series Pro) would be the easiest one to get both the doctor and DME to let you have. It's a straight cpap machine just like what you have, except that it provides more detailed data on the Smart Card.

If you get one of those machines, and then get the Encore Pro software and card reader (software is a separate purchase, not carried usually by local DME's) you could see what your AHI was for the night, leak rate, and other interesting info. The Plus you have now records only how many hours the machine is being used -- "compliance" -- so software would be of no use for it.

The Respironics REMstar Auto with C-flex, if you can get your doctor to prescribe that machine specifically, would be my choice. The heated humidifier that fits your Plus would also fit either the Pro 2 or the Auto. Won't fit an "M" series machine.

Good luck!